While Fox News provides warm validation for those Christians who think that their First Amendment rights to religious freedom are being violated. But non-Christians, who complain about possible violations of the First Amendment's "establishment clause," are ridiculed and attacked on Fox. So in keeping with the narrative that it's OK for Christians to violate other's religious freedom and their recent week-long attack on alleged Islamic intolerance, Fox is helping to spread more fear and loathing of Islam by ginning up a Todd Starnes generated controversy over concerns, by Muslim parents, about the appropriateness and legality of having a public school pass out flyers, advertising an Easter egg hunt, at a Presbyterian Church. According to Fox's one true propaganda priest, Fr. Jonathan Morris, it's no big deal because there's no such thing as separation of church and state!

The Sundays with Fr. Morris segment, part of "The Fight for Faith," began with exemplary Christian Tucker Carlson quipping "Muslim parents are crying foul when their kids come home with flyers about an Easter egg hunt at a local church." The oh, so clever chyron: "Eggstravaganza Ire, Muslim Parents Object to Egg Hunt Flyers." Video of a Muslim parent, articulating his belief that the act was against the Constitution, was shown. After Clayton Morris asked if this does "infringe on the Constitution, or are parents taking this too far?" He noted that the flyers have no reference to religion; but, rather, just invite students to an Easter Egg Hunt.

Fox's one true priest started off with a tried and true religious right canard. He "reminded" us that "there is no mention in the Constitution of Separation of Church and State." He explained the "separation" as a way to protect the Church from state involvement. (Padre doesn't seem to understand the "Establishment Clause" and how it has been used to determine court decisions regarding Jefferson's "wall of separation." Padre doesn't seem to know that "eminent domain" and "separation of powers" are not in the Constitution either but there is set law regarding these concepts.)

He explained that the school agreed to pass out the flyers to students in a heavily Muslim area and that the school system is extraordinarily sensitive to Muslim concerns. I don't know if the chyron was reflecting the Muslim position or aggrieved Christians: "Faith Under Fire, Parents: School is Promoting Christianity." He asserted that "of course" a church could promote, at a public school, an egg hunt which has "nothing to do with religion." Carlson asked "how central is the Easter Bunny to Christian theology?" Fr. Morris said that it isn't but according to a Catholic website, "in Christian times the egg had bestowed upon it a religious interpretation" related to resurrection. When Morris said that Easter is about the Resurrection, Anna Kooiman interjected "it wasn't a resurrection egg roll." She added that these parents complained about invitations to a Halloween celebration.

Morris set up a ludicrous hypothetical "reverse" with the scenario of a mosque sponsoring an Easter egg hunt which, of course, it wouldn't. While he acknowledged that Christian parents might be concerned, they would be assured when they found out it's just an egg hunt. (Uh, I don't think so) He did admit that if the egg hunt sponsoring church proselytizes, "it's out of place," but we need to be able "to live together." Interestingly, the parent shown on the video said that he would object to school flyers advertising events at a mosque.

Irony Alert - This is Fox News, headquarters for the "war on Christmas," and a place where "you can bash Islam with impunity." Atheists are not welcome either so so much for living together!

I wonder if Father Johnny would be as blasé if a pagan group decided to “reclaim” Easter and sponsored an “Easter egg hunt?”

After all, the very name “Easter” derives from a pagan Germanic goddess of Springtime and the dawn (and possibly of fertility), Eostre (or Ostara). Hares (or rabbits) were a symbol or totem of Eostre. And most of our “traditional” Easter customs can be as easily associated with springtime or even traditional pagan beliefs (eggs, for instance, have a long historical tie to beliefs in resurrection and rebirth which made them a perfect symbol for spring).

In fact, Easter, as we know it through Christianity, preserves the goddess’s name in English and German (Ostern) and a few languages that added the word after English influence (in Hindi, it’s Istara and in Japanese, it’s Isuta). In most other languages, the name reflects the Hebrew Passover. The Hebrew name is Pesach (the “ch” pronounced as in “Bach”); in Spanish, it’s Pascua; in French, it’s Pâques; in Italian, it’s Pasqua. Even in Russian, it’s Pascha (the “ch” like the Hebrew form). In Dutch, it’s Pasen; in Danish and Norwegian, it’s påske. Even in Arabic, it’s Eid al-Fish (the “Fish” actually sounds like “fuh-sah-huh,” although that last “syllable” is a bit more like the huff of air when you say the sound of an “H”).